About 30 years ago I read my first book about the Enneagram. It was life changing as it helped me understand myself and those I was in relationship with. The problem is now, whenever I read another book about the Enneagram, it fails to have the same impact. However, this may be more about the original book’s influence on my life, rather than the new contribution to the subject.
Nevertheless, I continue to find the Enneagram a fascinating topic to read about. The Road Back to Me : an Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile, is well written and provides a good basic overview of the Enneagram. I did find new insights that I had not considered before. I found it interesting that the author added information about the effect of introversion or extroversion on some of the personality types. I also found the discussion on the ‘wings’ of each personality type helpful as it adds another level of understanding.
The book has a basic structure – an introduction, a finding your type chapter, and then a chapter about each personality type plus a conclusion. The structure made it heavy going at times. It was fine when I was reading the chapter about my own type or that of a family member, but more difficult when I read about a personality type that I don’t regularly have contact with. Also by bundling all the information about one particular personality type in a chapter, it produced a very negative picture of that person. In reality a person is unlikely to display all the negative characteristics of their personality type, so this made the book a bit intense at times. However the author had a terrific sense of humour which lighten the mood.
Overall, it was a good read.
